Assessment and Error Identification of Answers to Mathematical Word Problems

Abstract

Mathematical word problems can be broadly divided into two categories as numerical word problems and algebraic word problems. These can be further categorised according to the domain, such as interest calculation and mensuration. Although most of the popular Mathematics examinations contain word problems, there are slight differences in the syllabi. The existing research has produced solutions for some categories of the word type problems. However, these solutions cannot be used for other types of word problems nor can these systems be used in the context of other examinations where there are differences in the grading schemes. We introduce a system that can be easily used to assess answers to both numerical and algebraic type word problems and automatically identifies the exact errors (if any) made by students by using a (teacher provided) marking rubric. The system is modularized and can be extended to support different types of word problems. If the answer contains a short textual phrase along with the numerical or algebraic expression, it is also evaluated in order to check whether the student has actually understood the question.